There are several significant changes between the 2009 edition and the 2012 edition of the International Codes that relate to fenestration products. This article is intended as a summary of the major requirements set forth for windows, doors and other fenestration products in the 2012 International Residential Code, the 2012 International Building Code and the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code.…read more

Last week while WDweekly took a hiatus, I, like millions of others, gave thanks for many blessings. On that gratitude list is John Swanson. As many of you know, John has been battling cancer this past year. He’s continued to contribute to Window & Door, including the Talk, throughout his treatments. Even so, he’s been greatly missed. He wrote here last summer that he was hoping to see his many industry friends on the fall fenestration show circuit. As I and others on the team
traveled in his stead, pretty much the first question asked was, “how’s John?”

The obvious thing is that this caring question was asked so often because of John’s deep industry knowledge and all the people he’s met and impacted for almost three decades. But it’s much more than that.

While friendships formed in our work lives may be different in context and frequency (an annual trade show; editorial emails exchanged), they are, like our personal lives, also fundamentally about trust.

I’ve always trusted John to know what’s important to publish, most importantly, what truths to share and which ones are best kept confidential. Long-time readers, his peers and colleagues, have always been grateful that John knows how to walk that line. It’s one of his many contributions to his far-flung fenestration family.

An occasional follow-up question was about John’s “out of office” email message. Some of you wondered if he was still receiving your emails if you didn’t hear back from him, or from one of us pitching in on his inbox flow. So I’m taking this space to tell you, yes, John is still reading emails. His energy levels are lower than they have been, so he may not respond too quickly, or at all, but you can reach him at jswanson@glass.org or at this mailing address: 23 E 10th St #101; New York, NY 10003.

How Do You Incentivize Sales People to Meet Their Goals?While nearly 40 percent of survey respondents said they have company-wide recognition programs in place, perhaps surprisingly, nearly a quarter of people said they didn’t offer additional incentives to their sales forces. See the full survey results and read what respondents have to say here…read more